Shakur Stevenson and the Riyadh Season squad moved on to the next order of business.
Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has released the full undercard for the October 12 Riyadh Season Program. Stevenson is next scheduled to face former IBF 130-pound titlist Joe Cordina in the co-feature.
The event will take place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Headlining the show is the already announced and rescheduled Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol RING/Undisputed Light Heavyweight Championship.
All reports indicate that Stevenson, The Ring’s No. 4-rated lightweight, will attempt the second defense of his WBC 135-pound title. There are various reports as to why Mexico’s William Zepeda, no. 3 at 135 by The Ring, will not be next.
So, here’s another one—and it doesn’t stop Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) just yet.
A hearing previously scheduled for Tuesday was postponed as the WBC office was closed. All staff members attended a funeral service held for Dona Martha Saldivar Sulaiman, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman’s mother who passed away on Tuesday.
Three sources directly involved in talks told The Ring that Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) has not yet stepped aside as a mandatory challenger. This position was taken before and after Alalshikh’s post on Tuesday.
They also come amid wild claims on social media channels that Raymond Muratalla (21-0, 16 KOs) would be next. Those rumors swirled after a cryptic post from trainer Robert Garcia’s account on X.
“I heard it’s about the purse today for Shakur Zepeda. We’ll be ready @ShakurStevenson.”
I heard it’s about the purse today for Shakur Zepeda. We will be ready @ShakurStevenson
— Robert Garcia Boxing (@GarciaBoxing) August 20, 2024
The account later clarified that Muratalla is “next in line and we (are) not ruling it out” if Zepeda steps down.”
Zepeda is the No. 1 rated lightweight among all four major sanctioning bodies. The southpaw from San Mateo Atenco, Mexico became the WBA and IBF’s top contender after a fifth round knockout of Maxi Hughes in Las Vegas. He was already no. 1 by the WBC and made it to the top spot with the WBO.
Stevenson has looked ready to move on since talk of a possible title defense against Wales’ Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) surfaced. The undefeated three-division titleholder is now a free promotional agent, although he works primarily with Matchroom Boxing. He also met directly with Alalshikh, first at the Aug. 3 U.S. launch of the Riyadh Season boxing series. They met again in the two-plus weeks that followed, until Alalshikh felt comfortable announcing the full October 12 lineup.
Alalshikh has done this before, in fact with almost every Riyadh season’s boxing event. There have been two previous occasions where a title fight was announced before confirmation that it had been approved by a sanctioning body.
RING cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs) landed in a title defense against Ellis Zorro on the undercard on December 21st. The fight was announced despite his already ordered IBF mandatory defense against former champion Mairis Briedis (28-3, 20 KOs). A purse hearing for that rematch was eventually canceled, although the case was not fully resolved.
Opetaia was finally relieved of the belt once he went through with the Zorro fight, knocking him out in the first round of a gross mismatch. The IBF belt landed back in his possession after outpointing Briedis on the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury undercard on May 18.
Both fights took place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. Opetaia will return on the October 12 Riyadh Season show against England’s Jack ‘One Smack’ Massey (22-2, 12 KOs).
Riyadh Season’s UK launch is set for September 21, headlined by the Daniel Dubois-Anthony Joshua IBF heavyweight title fight. Recently crowned IBF 130-pound titlist Anthony Cacace (22-1, 8 KOs) is scheduled to face former two-time featherweight titlist Josh Warrington (31-3-1, 8 KOs). The fight was gleefully unveiled by Alalshikh even though he never got approval from the IBF.
The Ring has learned that the IBF has yet to approve the fight.
Belfast’s Cacace remains on the hook to face mandatory challenger Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez (26-1, 26 KOs) and could be stripped of the title if he moves forward with the Warrington fight. Warrington is not ranked in the IBF Top 15, either at 130 or at featherweight, where he twice held the sanctioning body’s title. The 33-year-old from Leeds has suffered back-to-back defeats, has not won since March 2022 and has yet to fight at junior lightweight.
Of course, money talks. This is why the Riyadh Season logo is now distributed across events featuring Queensberry Promotions, Matchroom Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank.
Zepeda is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. Stevenson became a free promotional agent after a seven-year run with Top Rank. Their deal expired after his July 6 win over Artem Harutyunyan (12-2, 7 KOs) in Newark, New Jersey.
Stevenson claimed the WBC 130-pound title in a twelve-round victory over Edwin De Los Santos last November 11 in Las Vegas. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist previously held titles at 126 and 130, the latter where he was also The Ring champion.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring.
